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[humbucker]

hi all

can you recommend a decent battery charger (for the omega?). i've got three omegas with flat batteries and could really do with getting at least one of them moving! i'm swapping batteries over from other cars and jump starting but this is less than ideal so if you could point me in the right direction i'd be very interested to hear your recommendations.

ta

[humbucker]

it;s for the v6, and i did spot this one:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_210983_langId_-1_categoryId_165629

as well as this one...

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_210939_langId_-1_categoryId_165629#dtab

[Andy H]

I have used an Optimate battery conditioner for years to recover mistreated batteries on my old Range Rover and motorbikes.

I bought it when there was a choice of one http://www.tecmate-int.com/ but there seems to be quite a choice now....

I have found that big powerful chargers are a quick way of destroying an old battery. Only really useful if someone else has a flat battery and you want to get them running quickly and go away.

[Andy H]

From the stock in Halfords I would recommend a Ctek battery conditioner http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_738261_langId_-1_categoryId_165629#dtab

More expensive to buy but it will save you having to buy new batteries every winter.

[Andy B]

From the stock in Halfords I would recommend a Ctek battery conditioner http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_738261_langId_-1_categoryId_165629#dtab

More expensive to buy but it will save you having to buy new batteries every winter.

Mine is the 3600 Ctek, a lot cheaper but still capabale of charging your Omega battery.  (that's where mine has been for the last few days ... under the bonnet of my Omega )

[dbug]

I've still got the first one I bought back in the early 60s - will charge both 6v and 12v batteries, with trickle charge and "boost" (3amps) - still works ok 

Have also got a couple of more modern ones.

[mrjimbo]

I bought a SIP battery charger a few years ago and found it to be about as useful as tits on a duck, if the battery was flat it wouldn't start charging. I took it back to the supplier who sent it back to SIP, they said it was supposed to be like that, something to do with it needing the battery to have power in it to start charging. What a complete load of crap, surely you buy a battery charger to charge batteries if your battery is charged you don't need the charger in the first place 

After that episode i went and bought one from Draper, only cost £10 and it does what it's supposed to, charge batteries when they're flat. The SIP battery charger cost £75 and was a complete waste of time, so be warned, just cost it's dearer it doesn't neccessarily make it better. My £10 battery charger is still going strong.

[humbucker]

SIP said it was supposed to be like that, something to do with it needing the battery to have power in it to start charging. What a complete load of crap, surely you buy a battery charger to charge batteries if your battery is charged you don't need the charger in the first place 

i seem to remember reading in a few different places that a 'flat' battery will still have charge in it, perhaps around 4 - 6volts and that this is normal (although not adequate enough power to start the vehicle), but anything less than 3volts is classed as damaged and should not be charged. this is probably what they're referring to.

[humbucker]

popped down to halfords (have to have at least one battery charged tonight) but the shelves were empty despite their website stock check telling me the chargers i posted above, and the ctek things, are in stock. subsequently the store manager agreed to sell me this one for the same price as the regular charger, which is no bad thing as the one i bought has an RRP of about £80 and he sold it to me for £39:

[Andy H]

SIP said it was supposed to be like that, something to do with it needing the battery to have power in it to start charging. What a complete load of crap, surely you buy a battery charger to charge batteries if your battery is charged you don't need the charger in the first place 

i seem to remember reading in a few different places that a 'flat' battery will still have charge in it, perhaps around 4 - 6volts and that this is normal (although not adequate enough power to start the vehicle), but anything less than 3volts is classed as damaged and should not be charged. this is probably what they're referring to.

My old Optimate charges for a period and then lets the battery rest to see what voltage it drops back to. If it can't get the battery to hold a charge it gives up. A few times I have had to  try 2 or 3 times to get the charge cycle to start.

More advanced battery conditioners will use short bursts of high voltage/current to break up the sulphate layer in a sulphated battery. It doesn't always work but it can sometimes breath life into an officially 'dead' battery.

[mrjimbo]

i seem to remember reading in a few different places that a 'flat' battery will still have charge in it, perhaps around 4 - 6volts and that this is normal (although not adequate enough power to start the vehicle), but anything less than 3volts is classed as damaged and should not be charged. this is probably what they're referring to.



The battery never went below 8volts so not low enough to damage it but not enough power to start the engine.

[mrjimbo]

If i connected a battery with 12-14volt to the one with 8volts and then turned the charger on it would start charging, then disconnect the 12-14volt battery and the charger would carry on charging.

It just wouldn't charge anything with less than 10volts. I took it back to the supplier after SIP returned it to me, i took a flat battery (8volts) and a fully charged battery and showed them, we also ran the fully charged battery down to 9.5volts and tried to charge it but the charger wouldn't start. They then got a brand spanking new battery from the stores and ran that down to 9volts and the charger still wouldn't start.

SIP said it needs 10volts or it shows the battery as damaged which none of the batteries were faulty in any way shape or form, in fact i still have one of the batteries here and the other one is still on the Transit that it was fitted to when i owned it and it's still going strong now.

The top and the bottom of it is the SIP charger is a piece of CRAP    

[Cliffo B]

as already said I use a Ctec 3600 I find it superb for careing for a battery,its very compact,and has a usefull permanent single "plug in" on board connection to your miggy battery,this makes it definitely the best after all it has a Scandinavian pedigree

[mrjimbo]

as already said I use a Ctec 3600 I find it superb for careing for a battery,its very compact,and has a usefull permanent single "plug in" on board connection to your miggy battery,this makes it definitely the best after all it has a Scandinavian pedigree

I'm sure your Ctech3600 is a very good charger and copes very well 

But my point is, if you buy a battery charger you expect it to do just that, charge batteries and not need to be jump started just because the battery hasn't got at least 10volts